COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark called on Arctic coastal
nations on Wednesday to avoid a scramble for the region's
resources and urged all countries to abide by U.N. rules on
territorial claims.

Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller meets leaders from
Norway, Canada, Russia, the United States and Greenland's
home-rule government next week.

The Arctic could hold as much as one-quarter of the world's
remaining undiscovered oil and gas deposits, according to some
estimates.

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Countries around the ice-covered ocean are rushing to stake
out claims on the Polar Basin seabed and have sought to bolster
their scientific claims under a U.N. convention to extend their
territorial sovereignty.

"My ambition is that we send a clear political signal which
says that we will follow the rules already in place and solve
any difference in accordance with international law," Moller
told reporters on Wednesday.

Apart from territorial claims in the Arctic, the countries
also plan to discuss cooperation on accidents, maritime
security and oil spills when they meet from May 27 to 29 in
Ilulissat, Greenland.

Moller said he was reasonably confident the conference
would issue a declaration establishing that the United Nations
would rule on the territorial disputes "so that we don't have
this rush on who comes first or who plants their flag where."

The issue has become urgent because rapidly rising
temperatures could leave most of the Arctic free of ice for
several months in the summers in a few decades' time,
scientists say. This would ease access for drilling.

Moller said it was important to agree on a framework now
because any conflicts in the Arctic would become increasingly
difficult to settle as the oil becomes more accessible.

Russia last summer angered the other Arctic nations by
planting a flag on the seabed under the North Pole, further
focusing attention on the race for hydrocarbon treasures made
even more tempting by spiraling oil prices.

Russia and Norway have made submissions to the UN
Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. Denmark and
Canada are also preparing submissions to support extending
their territory beyond the established 200 nautical miles from
land.